Scaffolded Reading Instruction of Contest-Area Texts

Reads and Resources

The month, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute highlighted this study by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey–in which the authors are converted from advocates of “leveled reading” to believers in the Common Core philosophy for instruction (which calls for engaging students with more complex texts). Critics of the Common Core often take issue with this approach to teaching literacy through informational and higher level texts–because it contradicts the instructional model that attempts to offer children text at “just the right” level. In this study, Fisher and Frey are surprised to find no research to support the “leveled reading” approach to which they had formerly subscribed. Instead, they find that research increasingly supports using more difficult material. Read it here.